![]() ![]() Our hero, Wei Shen, is an undercover Hong Kong cop who's in too deep with the Triad gang he's sent to infiltrate - to the point where he doesn't seem to mind offing pretty much anybody he's told to in order to prove he's not a cop. Having finished I have to doubt it'll have much longevity as a playground, but while it lasts it's a satisfying injection of action. Though that doesn’t take anything away from this game, that at one point, two years ago, was a pretty impressive open world game with an unique and interesting setting.Oh, now I get it: it's a metaphor! Most of what Sleeping Dogs, an open-world homage to the Hong Kong action film of the '80s and '90s, lacks in literal canines it makes up with a respectably well-told story, strong martial arts combat, energetic freerunning foot chases, arcadey driving, and simple gunplay. The visuals upgrades just aren’t at the level of say the recent releases of The Last of Us or Tomb Raider. It’s hard to recommend anyone repurchasing Sleeping Dogs for this Definitive Edition, but it could be a great experience for newcomers. There’s also a slew of extra content that wasn’t included in the original release, new combat moves, cars, missions and races. ![]() Both are separate from the main story, and you’ll need to access each separately, not the best implementation of downloadable content we’ve seen from an open world game. Neither piece of the downloadable content is very big when compared to the main game, and both seem more like novelties than anything that adds any meaningful expansion on what was a fantastic main story. It’s something those who played the original game might not have experienced the first time around. The Year of the Snake DLC, which is a completely separate campaign that doesn’t really tie into the main story of Sleeping Dogs, and the horror-themed Nightmare in North Point are both different changes of pace. You can toe the line of the law, or not, or just do what’s best for the citizens of Hong Kong.įor those that didn’t purchase all the downloadable content the first time around, this Definitive Edition does have some new stuff to explore. So your actions will net different results in terms of progression, depending on how you choose to complete missions. It’s a mult-tiered leveling aspect that unlocks a number of different and unique skills for the character. There’s a system of medals to unlock, a decently sized progression system of Wei Shen’s abilities, and missions to replay if you aren’t happy with the results of your cop, triad, or face ratings. These story missions rarely fail to entertain, even if the side content can feel quite repetitive, if varied.įor those that do get sucked in, there’s plenty of layered content in this sandbox title. The main campaign is a 10-12 hour romp that introduces players to both an interesting storyline and cast of characters. Sleeping Dogs played best in 2012 when you stuck to the narrative path, this still holds true. Though the open world aspects, after playing a game like the recent release of Shadow of Mordor, feel a little lacking and less alive than they had previously. ![]() While the combat takes some queues from other games, the ability to drag your enemies around the world and slam them into different parts of the environment makes each encounter feel like a choreographed fight scene from the movies. Beating enemies into a visible pulp is still, and will always be, entirely enjoyable. The brutal combat system which allows the hero to use martial arts, counters, and savage environmental finishers is still fun. The core gameplay of Sleeping Dogs hasn’t changed at all, and it really didn’t need to. Did it turn Sleeping Dogs into a next-gen game? Not really. So is this the “Definitive” Edition of the game? Well yeah, you can’t beat the price for all the content, and the visual enhancements do go a long way in improving the game. While nearly all of the environmental aspects of Sleeping Dogs looks better, has a higher level of detail, and generally looks sharper in 1080p, you just can’t help but see the game’s last-gen roots still showing. The game did seem to suffer from frame rate issues on the Xbox One, as it most certainly didn’t make it to 60 frames per second, and it seemed at many times like the game was struggling to consistently stay locked in at rate that wasn’t noticeably choppy. Enhanced Lighting and impressive weather effects, better draw distances and a more detailed world at large, make the open world of Hong Kong feel more alive than ever, for console players at least. On new gen console hardware the game looks mostly like what it did on the PC when it originally released. Though unlike some “Definitive Editions” that have been released for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Sleeping Dogs feels the most antiquated. ![]()
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